238. Pyrrhic victory

From, "In Obama's Victory, A Loss For Congress," by James B. Stewart, The New York Times, 6/30/12:

"We finally won a three-decades-long battle over the commerce clause," John Eastman, a conservative constitutional scholar and a professor at Chapman Univerity, told me hours after the court's decision.
This might seem a paradox, given that the court upheld the legislation. But the decision may ultimately prove a Pyrrhic victory for supporters of expansive Congressional power.

Pyrrhic victory: achieved at excessive cost; also : costly to the point of negating or outweighing expected benefits

237. Kerfuffle

From, “Here Comes Nobody,” by Maureen Dowd, 5/19/12, The New York Times:

[extract from an article addressing the attitude and activities within the catholic church]

The latest kooky kerfuffle was sparked by the invitation to Kathleen Sebelius, the health and human services secretary, to speak at a graduation ceremony at Georgetown University on Friday. The silver-haired former Kansas governor is a practicing Catholic with a husband and son who graduated from Georgetown. But because she fought to get a federal mandate for health insurance coverage of contraceptives and morning-after pills, including at Catholic schools and hospitals, Sebelius is on the hit list of a conservative Catholic group in Virginia, the Cardinal Newman Society, which militates to bar speakers at Catholic schools who support gay rights or abortion rights.

Kerfuffle: a disorderly outburst, disturbance, commotion or tumult

236. Platitude

From, “Heat Feel Bosh’s Absence in Conference Finals,” by Howard Beck, 6/4/12, The New York Times:

“He was our most important player,” Spoelstra said in a pregame news conference Friday, and you could sense the muffled snickers around the room.

Few took the statement seriously, in part because Spoelstra,the Heat’s unfailingly self-serious head coach, is prone to broad platitudes and important-sounding coach-isms, such as, “play to our identity,” a phrase he invokes about 15 times per interview.

Platitude:  a trite or banal remark or statement, especially one expressed as if it were original or significant

235. Treachery

From, “The Enigma Beside Edwards,” by Frank Bruni, 6/4/12, The New York Times:

What was Cate Edwards thinking? What went through her mind and heart as she walked with her father into court every morning, took a place in the row behind his, listened to fresh accounts of his treacheries and her mother’s torment, nervously twisted her long hair, and then walked with him back out of court, day after queasy-making day?

Treachery: betrayal of trust

234. Virtuous

From, “Why We Lie,” by Dan Ariely, The Wall Street Journal, 5/26/12:

We tend to think that people are either honest or dishonest. In the age of Bernie Madoff and Mark McGwire, James Frey and John Edwards, we like to believe that most people are virtuous, but a few bad apples spoil the bunch. If this were true, society might easily remedy its problems with cheating and dishonesty. Human-resources departments could screen for cheaters when hiring. Dishonest financial advisers or building contractors could be flagged quickly and shunned. Cheaters in sports and other arenas would be easy to spot before they rose to the tops of their professions.

Virtuous: having or showing high moral standards

233. Gripe

From, “For a Nation of Whiners, Therapists Try Tough Love,” by Elizabeth Bernstein, 5/15/12, The Wall Street Journal:

How do you get someone to stop the constant griping? The answer is simple, but not always easy: Don't listen to it.

Gripe: express a complaint or grumble about something, esp. something trivial

232. Capricious

From, “Facebook I.P.O. Raises Regulatory Concerns,” by Evelyn M. Rusli and Michael J. De La Merced, 5/22/12, The New York Times:

In the weeks leading up to Facebook’s I.P.O., Morgan Stanley took a frontal approach to the pricing process. When the firm considered raising the offering price as high as $38 a share and increasing its size, other bankers pushed back. They worried that the company’s growth prospects did not support such lofty valuations.

Some bankers were also troubled by the huge demand from individual investors, a relatively capricious group. While Facebook allocated most of its shares to big, institutional investors like mutual funds and hedge funds, it also gave a larger-than-usual block, close to 25 percent, to ordinary investors.

Capricious: given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior; whimsical; fickle

231. Tenacious

From, “'Today's Anchor Amy Robach Leaves NBC News For ABC News,” by HuffPost Media, 5/21/12:

"Today" weekend anchor Amy Robach is leaving NBC News to join ABC News.

In a statement on Monday, ABC News president Ben Sherwood announced that Robach will be joining the network as a correspondent based in New York. He called her "a tenacious and skilled reporter" who will bring "engaging and high-impact journalism to all of our broadcasts and platforms."

Tenacious: persistent; tough

230. Mien

From, “Theater Talkback: Against Ovation Inflation,” by Ben Brantley, 5/17/12, The New York Times:

I would like to make the case, officially and urgently, for the return of the sitting ovation. Because we really have reached the point where a standing ovation doesn’t mean a thing. Pretty much every show you attend on Broadway these days ends with people jumping to their feet and beating their flippers together like captive sea lions whose zookeeper has arrived with a bucket of fish. This is true even for doomed stinkers that find the casts taking their curtain calls with the pale, hopeless mien of patients who have just received a terminal diagnosis.

Mien: a person's look or manner, indicating their character or mood

229. Peripatetic

From, “The Vows Column at 20,” by Lois Smith Brady, 5/18/12, The New York Times:

At the time of their wedding, Ms. Irwin, then 29, and Mr. Liotta-Mangio, then 50, were a free-spirited artistic couple who lived on a houseboat in the 79th Street Boat Basin in Manhattan. They seemed too bohemian for marriage; I figured they would drift apart sooner rather than later.

Ms. Irwin, then a record promoter, said the boat basin “was the closest thing I could find to a hippie commune in New York.” Mr. Liotta-Mangio was a peripatetic, handsome, charming Sicilian guitarist. How long do they ever stick around? As it turns out, he stuck around forever. Well, almost.

Peripatetic: one who walks from place to place; an itinerant